How often to bath cockers?

Question
Thank you so much for your answer . . . both a relief and an eye opener! I seemed to remember reading in the paper years back, the former first lady Barbara Bush has her cocker in the shower with her every day. Then, our vet was looking at our English Spaniel's skin and ask how often we bath her, hinting we should bath her more often because her skin is a bit red . . . ! I have been feeling so guilty for not giving the frequent baths that she supposed to have needed!
Our dog has always been fed on dry dog food . . . a cheaper brand, Sam's Club's own chicken only mix [with no beef or lamb]. From now on, she will get soybean oil or olive oil daily in her food.
Since she is on dry food all the time . . . except we slip some human food to her every now and then, just tit bits. Could that be the cause of her two bad teeth?
Thanks again for your expert help. We'd love to see some of your pups! We live in S. California. Judging by your name, do you raise Labs?
Esther.

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Followup To
Question -
We have an English Spaniel, she scratches frequently and we were advised sometime ago to bath her not more than every 3 weeks. What is your view on this? We use 'frontline' for her, would bathing her stop frontline's effectiveness?

Thank you.
Answer -
My view is that in general, baths cause more problems than they solve, and there is no good reason go through what is usually an unpleasant experience for man and beast.  If you insist on bathing a dog, rinse, rinse, rinse, and maybe use a conditioner.  A long haired dog needs frequent bushing which is all a healthy dog needs to keep down odor.  Make sure most of the dogs calories come from a commercial dry dog chow.  The dry chows give the jaws and teeth needed exercise and help clean the teeth, reducing dog breath.  Most chows provide everything most dogs need for good health including the skin and coat.  Some dogs on the cheaper chows may need a teaspoon a day of ordinary cooking oil added to their food.  

Do not let the dog roll in stinky stuff.  This may mean cleaning up its relief area. Females will have to have a bath after going through their season, but it must wait until all the swelling has gone down or risk infections.  another good reason to spay the dog.  Baths can also cause ear infections, very counter productive in controlling odors.  

I will refer you to the directions on the Frontline package or a vet for how baths affect it.  I know many people have good results with Frontline.  I used Revolution last year with no sign of problems, and plan to this year.     

I have had a series of puppies in my house for their first year until they are old enough to go away to service dog school.  None of them ever get a bath except the females after their season.  A year and a half ago, one of them turned 10, retired as a dog guide and came home to live with us.  She has not had a bath since.  The dog guides are spayed after they are a year old.  I have my dogs out in public and around people whose job it is to see that I am caring for them properly.  Nobody ever says anything about odor problems.  Dogs don't need baths.  

Answer
A few little tidbits from the table never hurt any dog.  Sharing a little of your food with her teaches her she is a valued member of the pack.

I am surprised your vet suggested baths.  Mine supports my negative view of them.    

We have a Lab/Golden cross now.  A few years ago, we raised a German Shepherd.  We have had 13 Labs.

On my to do list is to post some of my dog pictures to one of the web hosting sites. Just haven't figured out the right one.  I have hundreds of photos on the PhotoWorks site, but they are a pain to deal with.